Saying No

First off an apology to anyone who reads this.  I was on a jury for about a month then I had the annual Risen conference at church.  I haven’t had much time to blog.  I’m sure you desperately missed my posts.  Haha.  I’ll try to get back to it more regularly.

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I live in America, which is a capitalistic society.

 

This effects how I view the world in many ways.

 

One message that I’m constantly told is this: do as much you can afford.

 

Buy the best car you can for your money.

 

Buy as much house as you possibly can.

 

Save all you can for a luxurious retirement.

 

This idea extends past money too.

 

Cheat as much as you can without getting caught.

 

Eat as many calories as you can without gaining weight.

 

Do as much as you can afford.

 

In a society where we hear that message all the time I wonder: what would denial teach us?

 

What would it teach us to deny ourselves something?

 

That’s why I love the season of Lent.  There are actually four different ways that Lent is supposed to be lived out (fasting, giving to the poor, prayer, Scripture reading), but based on Facebook posts I can see that most people connect with fasting during this season.

 

I think that is a good thing.

 

Because in a country where we have so much and we are told to get as much as possible denial might be one of the most important teachers we have.

 

I’ll unpack this a little bit more in a later post, but what do you think?  What can you learn from denying yourself something for a season?  Have you ever tried it?

 

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